Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Appleton, Allison A., ScD

Gensburg, Lenore J., MS

Hosler, Akiko, PhD, MA, CGS

Kuniholm, Mark H., PhD, MS

Kuznetsov, Igor, PhD

Moslehi, Roxana, PhD

Rosenberg, Eli, PhD

Tracy, Melissa, PhD, MPH

Valachovic, Edward, PhD, MS

Vásquez, Elizabeth, DrPH, MPH

Zurbenko, Igor, PhD

Backenson, P. Bryon, MS

Boscoe, Francis P., PhD, MA

Browne, Marilyn L., PhD, MS

Dennison, Barbara, MD

Eidson, Millicent, DVM, MA

Gates, Margaret (Maggie) A., ScD

Haley, Valerie B., PhD, MS

Hart-Malloy, Rachel, PhD, MPH

Herdt, Michele L., PhD

Insaf, Tabassum, PhD, MPH, MBBS

Kacica, Marilyn A., MD, MPH

Kramer, Laura D., PhD

Lazariu, Victoria, PhD, MS

Leckman-Westin, Emily, PhD, MPhil

Lutterloh, Emily, MD, MPH

Nicholas, David C., MPH

Savadatti, Sanghamitra S., DrPH, MPH

Schymura, Maria, PhD

Zansky, Shelley, PhD

Baptiste, Mark, PhD

Bednarczyk, Robert A., PhD, MS

Birkhead, Guthrie S., MD, MPH

Carrascal, Alvaro, MD, MPH

DeHovitz, Jack, MD, MPH

DiRienzo, Gregory, PhD

Druschel, Charlotte, MD

Smith, Perry, MD

Strogatz, David, PhD, MSPH

Yucel, Recai, PhD

Children who face adversity are at a significantly greater risk for severe depression, research out of the School of Public Health finds. Published in Depression and Anxiety, the official journal of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, assistant professors Melissa Tracy, Allison Appleton and Tomoko Udo explain that more than half of adults report one or more adverse childhood events, such as parental mental health problems or financial hardship. The results of their study showed that the children in groups with higher levels of adversity had a higher risk of depression — and severity of depression — regardless of when the adversity took place.

An interdisciplinary UAlbany team has received almost a half million dollars from the National Institutes of Health for a comprehensive study on violence, and the project is among the small number nationwide to receive a perfect score from the Institute. Led by principal investigator Melissa Tracy, an associate professor of epidemiology, the team will study the processes that contribute to violence within social networks and test strategies that could potentially prevent it.

The School of Public Health is conducting the UPSIDE study, which is funded by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and aims to better understand Hepatitis C (HCV) and related issues among persons who inject drugs (PWID) in Upstate New York. Because HCV is most commonly transmitted by injection drug, a behavior which has been increasing as part of the drug epidemic in the U.S. and New York, the spread of HCV has been increasing. Although PWID are the priority group to understand ongoing spread of HCV, few research studies have been conducted on this population in upstate New York.

Principal investigators Tomoko Udo and Eli Rosenberg are leading the UPSIDE study, in partnership with syringe exchange programs run by Catholic Charities Care Coordination Services in the Capital Region, the Alliance for Positive Health in Plattsburgh, and the Southern Tier AIDS Program in Norwich.